Pumpkin Sunrise

Oh October, I love you so, you will be sorely missed.  It seems that you were only here just a brief time.  I documented your beauty daily with words and with photos.  How nice to have been graced with leaves changing and falling temps.  I will hold you deep in my heart until another year passes and you visit once again. Sincerely, a devoted fan. (me) I have begun the list making for the holidays.  Who to buy for, what to give, what has been made, what do I need to make.  My goal is to be done and wrapped by December 1st.  That way I have three more weeks for what I didn't accomplish.  I do not perform well under pressure. Along with the personal list making, have you seen the post from Amanda  where she created this  prompt a day for the month of November!!  I thought it was generous of her and I love the idea of using the prompts for personal journaling, photography, or maybe for a blog post.  I have a lovely not...

I've made lots of progress on my Thanksgiving sweater , as you know I quickly cast on last week impulsively and I've already completed the armholes and now am whizzing along the body of the sweater.  Will it be done by Thanksgiving?  Who knows! But I'm enjoying the process and the color is divine.  Remember my interesting socks  well they are finished !!  They are still a VERY interesting colorway and I am happy to know they will be tucked behind jeans and boots keeping my feet warm through the winter. My husband and I watched  Grapes of Wrath  on Netflix... does that count as reading?  I guess not.  I finished The Secret Keeper  by Kate Morton and loved it.  My only criticism is that I guessed the surprise ending half way through the book and therefore lost steam in reading the rest, but I did and I'm glad I did.  I recommend the book.  Still reading Grace Eventually  by Anne Lamott, nearly finished.  For v...

Saturday morning found me driving to my daughter's apartment to do a computer swap.  Her six month old computer was acting weird and she needs a functioning computer for note taking and for final exams at law school.  I enjoyed a beautiful drive soaking in the autumn countryside while listening to a few podcasts.  We swapped computers (gave her my husband's) and then proceeded to have a lovely lunch and a bit of shopping. As you might have guessed, the computer isn't acting weird here.  But it has a wellness appointment at a local computer repair shop-fingers crossed they find something!  This reminds me of the days of when my children would be sick and while at the doctor's appointment, their fever would break, or their cough would disappear.  How awful to wish your child would show any sign of illness to prove to the doctor that something, anything was wrong to make the appointment viable. Once I was home from the computer swap, I enjoyed a delicio...

I will announce right here and now that I am not knowledgeable in cars, just in knitting, but I do know an old car when I see one.  Earlier this week our riding lawn mower broke and my husband was stumped on how to fix it, so he called a friend to help.  Our riding mower is over 20 years old and my husband refuses to let it die and be replaced "its engine is strong". When our friend came over to help out, he brought along his little project-a roadster .  I saw an excellent photo opportunity.  I love how the car "smiles" at you from the front, see it?  After at least 10 photos, I noticed that one of them had my reflection and the beautiful autumn day! Between the two of them, the tractor was resurrected once again to continue lawn duties. This week has seen the temperatures drop and yes, frost!  Yesterday when Frodo and I went to pick up the daily paper in the darkness, I saw frost.  Good bye fall weed allergies, you will not be missed by me. ...

I'm furiously knitting on many projects and so far I'm enjoying each of them immensely.  This knit is the Nae Shawl  and is wonderful to work on.  The pattern is side to side construction and the yarn has a bit of bamboo, so the texture is kind of slinky, kind of crunchy and overall soft.  The project is a decadent tactile experience!  My sock progress is coming along, I finished the gusset of the second sock and I'm sure that I will be done very soon. Oh and in yesterday's post I announced that I am foolishly going to knit a sweater by Thanksgiving.  I've cast on and working my way to the sleeve division (top down construction of course). My reading....sigh, it's been the same again.  I'm thoroughly enjoying Secret Keeper by Kate Morton and it's a long book!  Since I'm knitting so much during the day while my fingers hold out, my reading time is limited to the evenings and as you know I tend to fall asleep.  I believe I will finish t...

Over the weekend, I had an insane idea to knit myself a sweater for Thanksgiving.  This lofty goal probably will not happen but I do like to create challenges for myself once in a while, personal challenges make life spicy!  So welcome Pumpkin Latte Sweater .  The yarn is Cascade 220 a basic reliable worsted weight wool and the pattern is effortless cardigan  by Hannah Fettig.  I poured over ravelry considering many cardigan patterns, trying to decide what exactly I wanted and kept coming back to this particular one. Will I complete this sweater on time?  Highly doubtful, since I have many other projects beckoning my attention.  However in my imagination, I look spectacular in my finished cardigan at Thanksgiving dinner.  I truly believe that the anticipation and the imaginings of what can be is the best part.

This weekend found me: -welcoming the deer who have returned to walk through my backyard every morning and night -creating meals with food from the freezer and pantry -noticing the sunlight changing its angle through my house, so lovely and soft -catching up on the mounds of laundry -balling up some yarn for a new knitting project -oh! wearing wool!  I wore a wool sweater on Saturday and Sunday, not to mention a shawl each day :) -and I wore some fingerless mitts-I was in heaven! -noticing the dark mornings and dark evenings how was your weekend? Joining Amanda

My view early this morning while getting the paper, the sun was greeting me and promising a sunny beautiful day!  Most of the leaves have dropped in my area and suddenly the cool air has somewhat arrived.  The birds are still singing and the crickets are chirping, but I know soon there will be the silence that heralds in late fall early winter. This week found me facing technical difficulties that were overall minor but in my mind blown out of proportion.  My internet was down for three hours and I was distraught (yes, crazy) over my reaction and to its absence.  While I was on the phone complaining to my daughter she suggested  I read a book.  Didn't she know it wasn't that time of the day to read a book?  It was that time of the day to be on the internet.  Funny how the mother daughter relationship takes a role reversal at times.  I was the petulant child whining over a problem that I had no control of in any way. So I picked...

I have been furiously knitting on my ugly, no wait, my "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" socks .  When I bought this yarn a few years ago I loved the skein colors but upon knitting them up, well they're kind of not so pretty any more.  However, the colorway reminds me of fall and crisp cold evenings and I know with jeans and shoes they will be fine.  If the color progression was a longer I think my love for them would deepen! Check out my shawl that I finished and posted about!! My reading is exactly the same as last week, reading both Anne Lamott and Kate Morton and thoroughly enjoying both. What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny

The shawl could wrap me up and keep me cozy for the colder months ahead but this is a gift (sniff).  I'm happy to report that it is off the needles, blocked, threads buried and photographed.  All that is left is to wrap it up and gift the present to someone special. Can you believe how dirty my fence is???  I am not in charge of the outdoor upkeep so we'll blame it on my husband okay?  Lucky for me the pretty shawl shines in the photo. The pattern, Light and Up  was an easy pattern maybe a good first pattern to knit a shawl if you are very familiar with the basics of knitting.  For me, this project was my knitting-while-talking project, I always have something like that on the needles, you see, I talk a lot. here is my project page .

This is the road more traveled, I've seen this road five times this week because I've been trying to walk almost every day as long as the weather cooperates.  My aim for the weekend was to do "nothing" and by that I mean enjoy staying in town without travel plans.  This plan worked and I was renewed by my "nothingness".  So my weekend was: -a dinner out with my husband, talking, laughing and eating -a dinner out with a dear friend, talking, laughing and eating -some knitting, reading and a wee bit of laundering -a date with my camera about the property -having phone chats with both of the kids throughout the weekend -doing crossword puzzles and sudokus, successfully! -knitting on my socks, getting close to the heel flap construction how was your weekend? Joining Amanda

This morning I'm thinking about how the first week of October is over and I wish for time to slow down, so I can savor this color packed month.  When I was in the kitchen cooking, I glanced out my window and took in the the falling leaves and the sky line that is brighter by each day.  Last weekend was the end of traveling and busy plans which is good because I'm tired! After catching up on necessary tasks around the house, paperwork that was begging for attention, I have carved out some much needed slowing down time to do whatever my little heart desires. My priorities are knitting, reading and taking the camera outside for some nature observations.  I've written a list of outings that are local that would be fun to do, but aren't critical. Our meals have shifted slowly this past week.  Gone are the massive salads and we've herald in the first chili of the season.  My mind is spinning with slow cooked warm meals to add to the menu rotation.  Of cour...

This side to side shawl is quite addictive.  So far I'm extremely pleased with how easy the pattern is and I'm able to knit while talking without making a mistake.  The pattern is named Nae , I could see me knitting this one again with many different colorways, so pretty don't you think so? I finished my cowl  last week, now I'm patiently waiting for some cooler weather.  Okay, impatiently waiting for some cooler weather.  It's so soft and cozy!  My ravelry page for that cowl is here . The Secret Keeper  by Kate Morton is an excellent book so far.  I've read all of her other books and I adore her style of writing.  She seamlessly weaves between the present day and the past.  I love reading and tumbling gently into the plot.  Each page has me questioning more and wishing I could just sit and read all day and all night long. What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny

I was gifted a luscious skein of sport weight alpaca last Christmas.  All year, I've eyed that skein wondering what it wanted to become.  A month ago the skein spoke to me, it said "a cowl".  So I searched Ravelry and found this pattern  (the original). I added a purl row in between five rows of stockinette stitch to add visual variety, I love the way this cowl turned out.  And it can be wrapped twice around the neck--so so cozy! Here is my ravelry project page .

This weekend we went up to visit my husband's brother, his wife and family in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  Oh the fun that we had.  Whenever we are all together within 24 hours I am laughing so hard I am crying.  It's over something silly and childish but my oh my it's fun!  My brother in law is funny.  I love when it gets too crazy and my sister in law reprimands him (while laughing). We did the same market ( byward ) to walk around and take in the sights sounds and the delicious aromas of what is for sale.  I enjoyed a lovely breakfast outside in a courtyard (not photoed, I was too busy eating). The patriotic cookies are still there in massive quantities-yum!  The streets were speckled with outdoor musicians hoping for some spare change and the sidewalk chalk artist was sketching just like the last time we were there. Would you believe that crossing the border each way was easy peasy?  We've been doing it for decades.  It nev...

Look who I was able to finally photograph!  Shortly after stopping the car, grabbing my phone to capture him, I saw another heron fly to be with him.  The romantic in me likes to believe they're a couple.  Watching them fly is like watching dinosaurs fly-the wing span is incredible! Oh how I wish I had my big camera, one day I will. I woke up this morning having computer issues and so my long post is going to be a short post.  Our perfect weather moved to slightly imperfect-it's been muggy and warm, that combination puts me in a cranky mood.  But there's hope in that the forecast looks chilly once the weekend is over.  And we need rain terribly.  So I'll try to be patient, really I will. Have I ever told you about my love of Brussel sprouts?  Well now I did, they are nature's candy in vegetable form.  I bought some at the farmer's market this week and they were delicious just simply steamed, with butter of course. They will never repla...

I am ready to start the lace portion of this shawl  that is a super secret holiday knit.  I love keeping secrets and so far I love knitting this shawl.  Yesterday I cast on three other projects and I posted about them here .  I am back to having four projects which is the ideal number for me.  I think my knitting bag gets lonely when there is just one. Ha!  Can you believe I have a different book this week?  Yes, I finished Little Women  and reading it a second time was just as good as the first time around if my memory is right.  So I haven't much to say about my new book The Secret Keeper  by Kate Morton since I've only started last night.  I'm sure this book will take me a few weeks to read as well. What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny

Let's just say I went a little crazy with the casting on, however I've been in a blissful state of happiness that every knitter knows.  There is nothing, NOTHING, like starting a new project.  I love mulling over my choices of patterns and yarns and thinking of what I want to start.  I do this a lot, it is my choice of daydreaming when I've got a bit of time.  Standing and waiting in the grocery store checkout?  I'm thinking about sock patterns.  Looking at the leaves on the trees turning?  I'm thinking about a skein of yarn in my stash that looks exactly like those leaves....what should I make? So now I will introduce you to the madness.  The first photo is a new pair of socks for me.  I haven't made a new pair of socks for me in a few years.  I tend to knit for my husband.  When I bought those two skeins of orphaned sock yarn many years ago, I knew that they would be socks and though a bit on the ugly color combinations, I f...